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Ruling Will Help Ensure Due Process for Detainees Unable to Represent Themselves

LOS ANGELES -- A federal court in California has granted class-action status to a group of unrepresented immigration detainees with mental disabilities, an important step in helping ensure they get access to legal counsel.

The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of a group of detainees, including José Antonio Franco Gonzales, a Mexican immigrant with moderate mental retardation who was detained in federal immigration facilities for over four years without a hearing. Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that the problems identified in the lawsuit are systemic, and there is no mechanism for evaluating whether immigration detainees with mental disabilities are able to represent themselves.

Public Counsel staff attorney Talia Inlender, who is representing Franco in his immigration proceedings, said: "Imagine being held in jail, sometimes for years, without even a basic understanding of why you are there. That's the reality for too many immigrants with severe mental disabilities. Today, we move a step closer to providing these immigrants and their families with the due process that our law requires and that our conscience demands."

Ahilan Arulanantham, deputy legal director for the ACLU of Southern California, said: "The sad fact is that the government refuses to systematically track the many detainees with mental disabilities who are lost in immigration detention centers, unable to represent themselves or even to understand why they're there. Today's ruling will allow us to shed light on this most vulnerable population within our broken immigration detention system."

About 33,000 immigrants are detained daily and government estimates indicate that over 1,000 of them have mental disabilities. The government has no procedure to resolve their cases, including for individuals who are unable to understand the proceedings against them due to severe mental disabilities. The ruling, which was unsealed by the judge today, applies to cases in Arizona, California and Washington.

"Immigration detainees should not be languishing in custody merely because they are unable to represent themselves," said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "Thanks to this ruling, thousands of immigration detainees with mental disabilities who have been forced to defend themselves will finally have a chance to obtain their day in court."

Michael H. Steinberg, of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, who argued the motion before Judge Gee, said: "It is profoundly disturbing that the government continues to pretend that this helpless population needs no assistance. With a class now certified, it will be much more difficult for the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to avoid what is clearly a problem that must be addressed."

The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the ACLU of Arizona, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Mental Health Advocacy Services have also been involved in the case and represent the class.